One Does Not Simply "Connect" from Sodetel

After having seen their promos and heard some good words about them, I wanted to check out the website for "Connect" one of the new ISPs in Lebanon.
As I sat there waiting for their www.connect.net.lb site to load, my initial thoughts were mostly skepticism about how good they are if their website was taking that long to load.

When the browser eventually gave up and gave me an error I quickly resorted to smartphone and tried to open the site. You guessed it folks, the site loaded like a charm and it it was responsive, something that other well established ISPs seem oblivious to.

Laptop via Sodetel

Smartphone via Alfa

Wanting to rule out any issue on my own wifi, I did the usual restart on my router and laptop but things were the same. It was when I asked friends from different ISP connections to try out the link that the truth became obvious.

Connect's website was exclusively inaccessible from Sodetel's DSL connection. The reason behind this issue is still unknown.

 I will not jump to any conclusion here but one cannot but wonder why from all the sites out there Sodetel's connection just won't let open that new competitor.

Update - Time: 14:25
After a Sodetel representative reached out an hour ago asking about the details of the issue and assuring it was opening normally from his end, it seems that the site is now accessible.

Update Time: 14:35
ok stop the press people, I spoke too soon and the site is again unreachable. This could be an indicator of someone working to fix the issue or some other deep rooted issues with their DNS, routing or Cache Engine.

Exclusive Q&A with IDM-Cyberia CCO Bassam Jaber

IDM-Cyberia Biggest Private Lebanese ISP

The best thing about attending events like BDL Accelerate 2014 is that you get to bump into many of the tech leaders in the country. Although they are usually surrounded by the organizer who are trying to get them to meet other decisions makers during the event, I managed to get a quick and exclusive Q&A with Bassam Jaber CEO of Cyberia and CCO of the joint IDM-Cyberia operation (for the tiny percentile among you who didn't know this: yes, the two ISPs are now a single entity)

Here is the transcript of our short discussion:


Q: How long has it been since IDM-Cyberia have merged and when should we expect to see a new brand emerge from this deal?

A: It's been 2 years since we merged our operations, however we do not forsee in the near future the emergence of a new brand name to replace the two brands. The major reason is a regulatory one, as we are currently operating two different licenses and replacing those with a new license or acquiring a third license is a lengthy and difficult process.

Q: On digital and acceleration for startups, have you provided support, or would you be interested in supporting start-ups that might benefit from your position as Lebanon's largest ISP?

A: Definitely, if we see a good start-up that would benefit from our support we'd go for it.

Q: What can you disclose on future projects that IDM-Cyberia might be launching soon?

A: We are currently looking into IPTV and have considered launching such a project but it all depends on the regulatory hurdles we are facing. A lot of projects are still blocked with the regulator (The Ministry of Telecom) in the same manner we are struggling with bandwidth and speed.

Today our main mission and goal remain to work on speeding up the internet on a national level and providing the user with the necessary bandwidth and access.

Q: Final question: why aren't you as brand on social media?

A: We are currently focusing on improving our core services. We want to be able to help customers when they reach out to us on social media if we do join these channels. Currently many problems are out of our hands, and we need to fix the problems on the government entities side, otherwise we will be disappointing our fans and followers. 

As you see, even Lebanon's largest ISP seem to have their hands tied with so much red tape that they are very careful when exploring new ideas such as IPTV or even when considering joining the rest of us on social media. Will we see an end to this technical nightmare anytime soon?

Would someone fill my glass, it just seems so empty all the time.